Page:The history of Tom Jones (1749 Volume 1).pdf/106

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Ch. 6.
a Foundling.
29

nary Kind, was attended with ſome ſmall Inconveniencies: For as it is not to be wondered at, that a young Woman ſo well accompliſhed ſhould have little Reliſh for the Society of thoſe whom Fortune had made her Equals, but whom Education had redered ſo much her Inferiors; ſo is it Matter of no greater Aſtoniſhment, that this Superiority in Jenny, together with that Behaviour which is its certain Conſequence, ſhould produce among the others ſome little Envy and Ill-will towards her; and theſe had perhaps ſecretly burnt in the Boſoms of her Neighbours, ever ſince her Return from her Service.

Their Envy did not however diſplay itſelf openly, till poor Jenny, to the Surprize of every Body, and to the Vexation of all the young Women in theſe Parts, had publickly ſhone forth on a Sunday in a new Silk Gown, with a laced Cap, and other proper Appendages to theſe.

The Flame, which had before lain in Embrio, now burſt forth. Jenny had, by her Learning, encreaſed her own Pride, which none of her Neighbours were kind enough to feed with the Honour ſhe ſeemed to demand; and now, inſtead of Reſpectand